Cranford_Review_March_2008

Cranford Community College, High Street, Cranford, Hounslow. TW5 9PD - Tel: 020 8897 2001 - www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk
THE CRANFORD REVIEW
Cranford celebrates its
Journey to Excellence
March 2008
Thursday 29th November 2007 saw the annual celebration
of student achievement at Cranford Community College,
with Lord William Waldegrave, Baron Waldegrave of
North Hill as guest speaker to present the prizes. The
theme for the evening was Journey to Excellence and
this was certainly the case with so many students being
applauded for their achievements at GCSE, A/S and A
level, some returning from universities such as Warwick
and Brunel to receive their awards. Chetan Shingadia, who
is now studying Biochemistry at Oxford also managed to
make it to the ceremony and took time to discuss with
Lord Waldegrave the life changing experience of achieving
a place at one of the best universities in the country.
Kay Roberts, Education Programme Manager at
GlaxoSmithKline who sponsor the science awards spoke of
her delight in being associated with Cranford Community
College and confirmed that the company will continue to
provide a further three years of sponsorship. In addition
GSK will fund two science teachers to attend the ASE
conference in Liverpool in January 2008.
The
evening
was a celebration of Cranford’s talented dancers and
performers too, who concluded the programme with the
première of the new school song composed by Declan
McKeever, Director of Performing Arts, which was
performed by staff and students. This new composition
entitled “Journey” will be used to create a DVD and CD
in spring 2008. It was certainly an excellent evening.
Maths is an Inspiration
Students from Cranford Community College have
been taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award
Scheme. The students received their certificates at the
award ceremony and were privileged to meet Prince
Edward. There were other celebrities at the event,
including Andrew Billington,
the Director of the Jack
Petchey Foundation.
He was really
impressed to
meet two of our
students who
have previously
been winners of
the Jack Petchey
Award.
In November 2007 a group of year 13 students visited
the Criterion Theatre in London for a mathematical
experience run by a company called ‘Maths Inspiration’.
The three lectures did just that and helped inspire the
students to question the world of statistics, natural
physical phenomena and the mathematics of games
and decisions. Students were able to see the
wider implications of studying maths at
a higher level. The speakers were,
Helen Joyce, ex-editor of Plus
Magazine and current journalist
on The Economist, Hugh Hunt,
Professor of Engineering at
Cambridge University and
Rob Eastaway acclaimed
mathematical author.

Cranford Celebrates Global Partnerships
Celebrating Internationalism and global partnerships continues to be a thriving theme at Cranford Community College and one which is developing at quite a pace. During the Autumn term 2007,
students and staff enjoyed the rich diversity of experiences with back to back visitors from around the world and exciting opportunities to create relationships with new global partners.
25 years of
Hounslow &
Issy-les Moulineux
Links
On Friday 16th
November 2007
Cranford Community College
hosted a borough wide event to
celebrate 25 years of town twinning
between Hounslow and
Issy-les Moulineux, a suburb just
outside of Paris. The event included
the Mayor’s Reception and
a concert show-casing the
diverse talent of pupils in
Hounslow, from the Schools’
String Orchestra to a vocal
ensemble, not forgetting
our very own Bollywood
Dancers. Rashmi Uppal,
Pavneet Syan,
Sundeep Jaura,
Priya Parekh
and Amandeep
Dhanoa.
Headboy
Randeep Matharu
and Deputy
Headgirl Rubeena
Hassan were comperes for
the evening. Jay Bhadricha
and Pavneet Syan interpreted
between English and French.
The Director of Children’s Services
and Lifelong Learning Judith Pettersen
was really impressed with the talent of all
those involved in this special occasion.
International School Award 2007/10
In October 2007, Cranford
Community College successfully
received the
International School’s
Award for the fourth time
running; becoming one of
21 schools nationally to
receive this award for a
fourth time. The award
is for schools who have
demonstrated a thorough,
whole school commitment
to developing an international ethos which permeates a
significant range of curriculum areas and age ranges. It
recognises schools that have collaborative activities with
overseas partner schools. The scheme is managed by the
British Council on behalf of the DCSF and schools are
highlighted for international excellence
German Students visit Cranford
During the first week in November 2007 a
group of thirty students visited Cranford
from our German partner school, which is
near Frankfurt and it is the second time they
have visited us. Each German student was
partnered with a Cranford pupil, who took
them to some lessons and accompanied them
on various trips to Oxford and London.
At the end of the week the German
students interviewed representatives
from the year council and went on a
tour of the Gurdwara in Southall.
Community Languages Conference
The Community Languages Conference hosted by
Cranford Community College on Saturday 1st December
2007 provided excellent
opportunities for all
community language
teachers (and potential
teachers) from
Hounslow and beyond.
They took part in
workshops and lectures
including an informative
keynote speech by Dr
Jim Anderson (Lecturer
in Modern Languages in
Education at Goldsmiths
University). In addition
we were privileged to
have a variety of very
good speakers from
Mr Naresh Chandla,
the Chief Examiner of
Panjabi and Head of
Community Languages
in Wolverhampton, Mr
Qureshi, an Advanced
Skills Teacher from Moseley School in
Birmingham and Siva Pillai, Nazek Abdel-
Hay and Doha Kudsi. Throughout the
day our guests enjoyed cultural music
and food whilst visiting numerous
information stands provided by CiLT,
the National Centre for Languages,
“Asset” Languages and the NRC
(National Resource Centre). This
conference was a great success and has
paved the way for an annual conference
in order to continue to drive forward
the value, parity and importance of
community languages in school.
Work Experience (Rouen, France)
Studying A-Level French is an enjoyable challenge
whereby you learn not only a new language, but
about a whole new culture too. However,
what you learn in a classroom and what
you experience when in another country
are worlds apart. This is what students
discovered from just one week abroad in
the beautiful town of Rouen on work
experience.
Before embarking on the
journey, each student
went through an
interview process and
a training session
so that they would
be prepared for
their placements.
As the week
progressed, they
all found
themselves
becoming
more
confident
speaking
French which
enabled them to
experience French
culture first-hand
and taught them the
value of learning a
language.
Cranford Community College was privileged to host a
visit by a Chinese delegation of teachers and students
from our partnership school in Beijing. During the
visit we were able to show them our school and make
them familiar with the different styles of teaching in
comparison to China. This was followed by Kevin
Prunty, Headteacher, and Peter Stumpf, Deputy Head,
visiting our partner school in Tianjin, China. The
purpose of the visit was to sign a new “Friendship
Agreement”, to enhance our links with Tifert Vocational
College in preparation for the forthcoming Olympics visit
by Cranford students and staff, and to gain some first
hand experience of schools in China. Included was a
visit to a rural primary school, where students and staff
worked incredibly hard with minimal resources. They
visited two secondary schools where a striking feature
was the large class sizes when compared with Cranford.
They also met and worked with some Chinese school
leaders and Government Ministers focusing on sharing
good practice and learning from each other.

Celebration Assemblies
Jack Petchey Awards
Cranford’s celebration
assemblies took on a new
format in December 2007
Local Democracy Week 2007
with each key stage
enjoying increased
prize winning
opportunities. Gold,
silver and bronze prizes
were tripled as were
the 100% attendance
awards. The new
style assemblies
enabled a larger
number of students
from all key stages
to perform and
celebrate the huge
talent in the school.
A fitting conclusion to a
successful autumn term.
Cranford took an active
approach to Local
Democracy Week in
October 2007. As well
as the visit to a year 9
assembly by Deputy
Leader of the Council,
Mark Bowen (picture),
there was a trip by some
of our sixth form students
who are interested
in studying Politics,
Philosophy, Economics or International Studies at university.
They also were given the opportunity to shadow the Leader
of the Council, Peter Thompson, for a whole day.
Throughout the day, students took part in various activities
and debates regarding issues concerning Hounslow Civic
Centre. In the morning they attended a meeting to come
up with ways younger people can get involved in their
communities and politics. They got some insight into how
local government works via a tour of the centre and had lunch
with the Mayor, Andy Morgan-Watts and the Deputy Leader
where they discussed what attributes a successful leader
should have. The experience certainly highlighted for the
students how as young citizens they can make a difference
for their future
Tranga Patel
Year: 13 Key Stage: 5
September 2007 Award
The sixth form team nominated Tranga Patel for this
award for his outstanding contribution to the prefect
committee. He has undertaken many organisational
roles including; arranging football tournaments and duties for prefects
at high profile school events. Tranga is reliable, helpful and an overall
excellent prefect and asset to the sixth form .
Jay Gohil
Year: 8 Key Stage: 3
October 2007 Award
Jay has been a real asset to his class. He is always
on time with homework completed to the best of
his ability. He is attentive and helpful in class, often
helping out other students with the work.
Harveen Lehal
Year: 11 Key Stage: 4
November 2007
Harveen has been consistent in her effort and attitude
throughout the two years in her work in GCSE Drama.
Her written and practical work is of the highest quality.
Harveen is always ready and available to help her fellow students, and she
has to be credited with boosting other student’s grades with her patience
and willingness to put herself out for other people.
Gursharan Dosajh
Year: 13 Key Stage: 5
December 2007
Gursharan has made considerable progress in Drama
and Theatre Arts A Level exceeding expectations.
A Day at Kingston University
On Monday 30th October
2007, seven year 10
students spent a day at
Kingston university to
find out about the United
Nations. The day began
with a lecture by Mike
Robert who is in charge
of International Studies at
the University. Students
learnt about the United Nations (UN) peace keeping role. Each
student was given a topic to research including; Benin Bronzes,
compensation for slave trade in West African countries and
access to free water. Students learnt how difficult it is to keep
good relations for trade whilst negotiating change. The debate
concluded with a new proposal which helped them understand
the importance of compromise. Finally, they presented their
proposals and watched a news video of events. The day was
an experience they will never forget and a great opportunity
to show how they can influence change for their future and
the future of the world.
Cranford’s new website went live on Monday 3rd September 2007. We are now looking at ways to enhance it.
We welcome any content contribution, suggestions or ideas. | www.cranford.hounslow.sch.uk
Copyright Cranford Community College © 2008 | Editor Director: Jessica Joyce | Graphic Designer: Enzo Gianvittorio (www.enzogianvittorio.com) | Printed by: schoolhousestudios.co.uk